Grille or screen for automobile radiators



25, 931- L. B. GREEN 1,820,614

GRILLE OR SCREEN FOR AUTOMOBILE RADIATORS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 5, 1931 Z77 Ma i-pr.

Lee a ghee/ Aug. 25, 1931. I L. a. GREEN GRILLE OR SCREEN FOR AUTOMOBILE RADIA'I.

OHS

Filed Jan 5, 1931 2Sheets-Shser. 2

Patented Aug. 25, 1931 "UNITED; STATES PAT Eur OEFl CE -f LEE, g mma, ornAxnwoon', oHIo, nssrenon TO THE GLOBE MACHINE & STAMPING,

COMPANY, or CL VELAND; OHIO, A CORPORATION or 'OHIO GRILLE .on SCREEN Eon AUTOMOBILE nAnrArons App1 ication filed January 5', 1931. Serial No. 506,550.

My invention relates to grilles orscreens for use in front of the radiator enclosure of an automobile to prevent loose leaves, twigs or the like from being tossed or drawn into the cells of the radiator core, and incidentally also to, add to the ornamental appearanceof thecar. e I

In the employing of wire screens, grilles or other foraminous guard members in front of automobile radiators for this purpose, it heretofore has usually been customary to attach such a guard member by bolts or screws either to the radiator core or to a frontal portion of the radiator shell or other radiator-core enclosure. This practice has the serious objeotions of requiring drilling, tapping or other mechanical operations; of leaving un- 7 simple means foruniformly spacing sucha guard from'the adjacent frontal portion of a radiator shell or other radiator-corejensightly holes in the radiator front when the grille or other guard is detached; and of interfering wlth convenient access to the radij ator core from the front of latter moase any v of the cells of the core should still become clogged. Moreovenif the edge binding of such of screen or other guard is clamped other solid particles which have passed through the screen are apt tol d between I the radiator front andthe'parts of the. screen adjacent to this-binding, thereby producing an unsightlyappearance and gradually interfering with the diatorjcore. .w v v In some of itsmajor objects, my invention aims to provide an arrangement whereby such a grille, screen or other guard can speedily and conveniently be supported in the desired guarding relation to a radiator front without requiring any drilling, tapping or other mechanical-operations on any part of the automobile; whereby the attached guard will be freely spaced forwardly from the radiator front, so that any solid particles which pass through its perforations can readily, drop out; and whereby the entire guard assembly canceasily be removed without leaving any exposed holes or other unsightly marring of the radiator front.v I a v a 1 In; a further object, my invention aims to provide means whereby sucha grille, screen or other guard can readilybe attached to and flow of air through the ra- 7 supported entirely by the cross-bar which 6X- tends in front of the radiator on many'modern types of automobiles ;-such cross-bars be ing commonly provided both for connecting I tically with respect to the cross-bar, and also rotationally in the general plane of the guard, so that this guard can readily be centered with respect to the adjacent frontal portion of the radiator enclosure. p v

Moreover, my lnvention aims to provide closure without employing any fastening elements attachedto this enclosure, and aims to provide an arrangement whereby these spacer means will also prevent the guard tightly against a radiator front, dirt and from rotating about the aXisof the support ing cross-bar.

-More particularly, my invention aims provide spacer means and supporting means :as well as spacersall connected to suclra grllle, screen or other guard as to constitute an assembly which can speedily, be attached as a unit to the supporting cross-bar and adjusted so that the spacermeans-will bear against the radiator front of the car with such a'pressure to prevent rattling, although sufiiciently yielding to compensate for slight irregularities in the spacings of'adjacent parts. So also, my invention aims to provide means for detachably supporting the spacers,

from thegrilleor other guard, so that these spacer means canreadily be replaced'if necessary, and aims todispose the spacers so that the pressure on them will not distortthe guard. Still further and also more detailed objects Will appear from the followingspecification and from the accompanying drawings,

which Fig. 1 is a fragmentary front elevation of an automobile equipped with a grille or screen embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan view of the same.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary and enlarged vertical section taken along the line 33 of Fi 2.

Fig. 1 is a vertical section taken along the zigzag line 14 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section taken along the line 5-5 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is rear elevation of one of the spacercarrying brackets and the adjacent portion of the binding of the grille or screen, drawn on a larger scale than Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a vertical section, line 77 of Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of one of the spacer-carrying brackets.

Fig. 9 is a reduced rear elevation of the binding of the grille or screen, together with the spacer-carrying brackets and spacers attached to this grille or screen.

In the drawings, the illustrated portion of an automobile includes a horizontal crossbar 1 connecting the two front fenders 2 and supporting the head lamps 3, which cross-bar is spaced forwardly from the front of the radiator shell 4 and extends approximately at the level of the midheight of the radiator shell. 1

The attached grille or guard member comprises a wire screen 5 which has its peripheral portion bordered by a binding 6, this binding being shown (Fig. 5) as of a. channel-sectioned type having the inwardly directed edge portions of each channel web recurved to form wings 6A which bear against opposed face portions of the screen after the manner more fully disclosed in my cop-ending application Serial No. 543,148, filed June 9, 1931 on a metal screen or grille binding. These opposed recurved wings 6A are spread sufficiently apart at selected portions of the frame-like bindings, and preferably adjacent to the corners of this bind: ing when the latter forms a substantially olygonal frame, so as to have one shank A of a U-sectional spacer-supporting bracket clamped between the wire screen 5 and the rearward one of the two recurved webs 6A of the binding. this bracket shank being brazed to the latter web.

The other shank 7B of the spacer bracket (pictured separately in Fig. 8) has a perforation 8 through which a diametrically contracted forward portion of a spacer member extends. This spacer member is desirably of elastic rubber and has near its rear end a peripheral groove 10, the bottom of which groove corresponds approximately in vertical section to the bore of the bracket perforation 8. After the spacer member is attached to the bracket (by compressing the portion 9A forward of this groove so as to taken along the snap this head-forming portion through the perforation 8) the rear wall of the said groove in the rubber spacer affords an annular shoulder bearing against the rear shank 7B of the bracket, and the forward groove wall latches the spacer to the said bracket shank, leaving the main portion 913 of the spacer extending rearwardly from the bracket.

The number of bracket-supported spacers thus mounted on the grille or other guard member may be varied, but with the rigidity afforded to the binding by its above described sectional formation, it is usually suflicient to provide two such spacers at each side of the frame or binding, and these are preferably mounted adjacent to the upper and lower corners of the frame.

Welded to the outer edge of each riser member of the binding adjacent to the level of the crossbar 1 is a wing 10 (Fig. which extends rearwardly toward the front face 11 of the radiator enclosure, and wing which has two vertically spaced perforations for receiving bolts 12. Each of these bolts extends through a vertical slot 13 in a bracket let which has an arm 141A extending forwardly at right angles to the face of the grille and beyond the cross-arm 1. This arm has a horizontal slot 15 for receiving a bolt 16 which extends parallel to the said grille face and'the cross-arm through the perforation in an upright wing 17 on a U-shaped clamp 18 which straddles the cross-arm l and is secured to the latter by a bolt 19. In practice, the wings 10 are preferably secured to the opposite side portions of the grille binding at such heights that the bracket arm 14A will extend above the cross-arm 1 when the grille is in the desired position with respect to the radiator front, thereby permitting the clamps 18 to be slid down over the cross arm to support the grille before the bolts 19 are attached and before the bolts 12 and 16 are tightened.

Thus arranged, each bracket 14 together with the adjacent cross-arm gripping clamp 18 with its wing 17 constitutes an attaching member for adjustably supporting the grille from the cross-arm. These two attaching members, together with the spacer-supporting brackets 7 and the spacers mounted on those brackets are attached to the grille before securing the resulting assemblage to the automobile. To attach it, the grille is slid downward between the cross-bar 1 and the radiator front portion 11, with the bolts 16 somewhat loosened and the clamp bolts 19 detached, so as to permit the forked clamps 18 to straddle and seat on the cross-bar. These clamps can then be slid sideways on the cross-bar to center the grille laterally with respect to the radiator front, and the vertical slots 13 allow the grille to be raised or lowered with respect to the said clamp to center the. grille with respect to the radiator front. When the grille has thus been centered, the bolts 12 and 19 are tightened, after which the frame of the grille is pressed rearwardly to a firm engagement of the spacers 9B with the radiator front, the

needed horizontal movement being permitted by the slots 15, and'the bolts 16 are tightened to maintain this engagement.

WVhen thus attached, the grille assembly is supported entirelyby the cross-arm, and the engagement of the upper and lower spacers with the radiator front prevents this assembly from rocking about the axis of the cross-arm,

while the compressibility of the rubber spac- V ers allows these to compensate for any slight deviations in the spacing between different portions of the grille frame and the radiator front. The u shaped form of thespacer-supporting brackets may allow a further slight yielding for the same purpose, so that the grillealthough supported only by two clamps and not attached in any mannerto the radiator core or the radiator frontis firmly supported and will neither rattle nor shift when the car is in motion.

By thus spacing the entire grille, including its binding, forwardly from the radiator front and by employing compressible material (such as rubber) for the spacers, I entirely avoid a scratching of either the radiator front or the grille, and also prevent dust from lodging between the grille and radiator front. If the spacers wear or shrink in time, the bracketslots 15 readily permit the user .to make the needed adjustments; and when the spacers harden or otherwise need replacing, new ones can readily be substituted.

During the attaching, the grille-attaching means permit adjustments both. longitudi nally, vertically and transversely of the car; and the providing of vertical slots 13 in each of the two attaching means also permits a separate vertical adjustment for each side of the grille to effect a rotation of the grille in its own plane substantially aboutthe middle of the grille. Consequently, the user can readily dispose the grille so that it accurately conforms to the shape of the adj acent radiator front part of the car for which the grille was formed, thereby adding also to the appearance of the car. And, since the parts permanently secured to the grille-namely the spacer-sup in these respects, since many changes might obviously be made without departing either from the spirit of my invention or from the appended claims. Nor do I wish to be limited to the use of my invention in connection with automobiles, since it might be employed with 'iequaladvantage for supporting grilles or the like-for other purposes. M V.

' Iclaim as my invention: v w

:1. An attachment to a vehicle having a horizontal cross-bar spaced forwardly from and extending parallel to a frontal vehicle portion, comprising: a grille or the like comprising a foraminous m'ain'portion and a binding framing the said main portion, the said grille extending between the'cross-bar and the said frontal vehicle portion; two webs fast upon and extending rearwardly from opposite side portions .of the binding, bumper means extending rearwardly from spaced portions of the binding and pressing against but unsecured to the said frontal vehicle portion, and two connecting means respectively securing the two webs to the said cross-bar for supporting the grille' with the bumper means in their said disposition, the said connecting means being arranged to permit both a horizontal and a relatively independent vertical adjustment of the grille with respect to the cross-bar. I v

2. A vehicle attachment as per claim 1, in which each of the connecting means com prises a clamp gripping the cross-bar, and

two connecting members respectively fastened to the said clamp and to one of the said webs, the member fastened tothe web being vertically adjustable with respect-to the web.

3, A vehicle attachment as per claim 1, in

which eachof the connecting means oem-F? prises a'clamp gripping the cross-bar and having an ear provided with a perforation, a web secured to the grille'frame and pro vided with two vertically-spaced perfora tions, a connectingmember having a horizontal. slot extendingacross the perforation inxthe clamp ear and having two vertical forwardly of the said front, of a grille disposed parallel to the said front between the said front and crossbar, the grille compris ing a foraminous member and a frame housing the peripheral portion of-the foraminous member; spacer supports adjacent to spaced portions of the frame and each having a foot clamped. between the grille and a part of the said frame, spacer members each mounted on one of the spacer supports and extending rearwardly into the engagement with the radiator front, and means interposed between the cross-bar and the grille frame for supporting the grille and pressing the said spaced members against the radiator front.

5. A grille or the like for use in front of an automobile radiator, comprising a foraminous member, a frame housing the peripheral portion of the said member, spacersupporting brackets adjacent to spaced por- 6 tions of the frame, and bumpers each mounted upon and extending rearwardly from one of the said brackets, each of the brackets being formed separately from the frame and having a portion thereof clamped between 10 the frame and the foraminous member.

6. A grille or the like as per claim 5, in which each bracket is of a U-shaped section in a plane at right angles to the general plane of the frame and presenting the shanks of its U-formation parallel to the said frame and behind one another, the forward shank of the bracket being clamped between the frame and the foraminous member and the rearward shank being formed for detachably supporting one of the bumpers.

7. The combination with an upright grille comprising a foraminous member and a frame housing the peripheral portion of the said member, and a horizontal cross-bar eX- tending forwardly of and parallel to the grille, of two adjustable means for support ing the grille from the said bar; each of the said means comprising a web secured to one side of the grille frame and extending rear- 80 wardly beyond the said frame, a clamp fastened to the cross-bar and including a riser portion, a bracket extending alongside the web and the riser portion of the clamp, a single bolt connecting the bracket with the 85 riser portion of the clamp, and two bolts connecting the bracket with the web and having their axes rearward of the grille frame; the bracket having a horizontal slot through which the said single bolt extends, and hav- 40 ing two superposed vertical slots through which the said two bolts respectively extend.

Signed at Cleveland, Ohio, December 31st, 7

LEE B. GREEN. 

